I'm planning to get some mottled sculpin. I have a 55 gallon that I'm dedicating to this. I know the care requirements (ie. lots of oxygen, current, cool temps), but I have a few questions. First off, what can I keep them with? I've heard darters can become meals, but is there a way to keep the two together? Also, what is a good number of them for a 55? Also, depending on the possible tankmates, how many can I keep of what species with them?
Mottled sculpin questions
- Thread starter aaron7353
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Well there are not allot of people on MFK who know how to keep sculpin ^_^
luckily for you I do ^_^ I have had a prickly sculpin for over 4 years and she has grown from under an inch to a monster of 7+ inches.
before you even think of keeping them with other fish you need to get them on pellets and prepared food or anything and everything will be snacks.
for a 55g I would say 3-4 depending on your scape..lots of logs/rocks hiding places, cool water is anything under 75 for theses guys as long as you have tons of surface movement for O2 in the water.
where are you getting yours from?
here is a link to my thread...I should update her soon.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...92-Prickly-sculpin!&highlight=prickly+sculpin
luckily for you I do ^_^ I have had a prickly sculpin for over 4 years and she has grown from under an inch to a monster of 7+ inches.
before you even think of keeping them with other fish you need to get them on pellets and prepared food or anything and everything will be snacks.
for a 55g I would say 3-4 depending on your scape..lots of logs/rocks hiding places, cool water is anything under 75 for theses guys as long as you have tons of surface movement for O2 in the water.
where are you getting yours from?
here is a link to my thread...I should update her soon.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...92-Prickly-sculpin!&highlight=prickly+sculpin
Also, since I need high oxygen levels, does that have to be in the form of current or just surface agitation? I know sculpins often live in streams, but is current necessary? I'm hoping not so I'm able to keep more types of fish with them.
Mine came from a lake...with no outlets I only use surface agitation.
I have found they adapt better to tanks when taken from a lake not a stream...If yours comes from a stream they will be way harder to adapt to your tank.
That makes sense. I'm looking into different canister filters not only to better filter the water, but to utilize the outputs as good current simulators.
And in regards to tankmates, what are my options? How about smaller sunfish like Orangespotted, dollars, or enneacathus species? They aren't naturally predators of sculpin I wouldn't imagine, and they are the wrong shape for sculpins to try to eat. I realize they don't like flow and sculpins do, so I'm thinking I'll focus the majority of the current at the bottom as sculpins are bottom dwelling anyways. At the farthest point from the current, I could stack rocks and place driftwood to give the sunfish slack areas to dwell in when they aren't out above the current.
I've also pondered the idea of mudminnows since they get pretty nice sized so sculpins can't eat them. What kind of darters could I keep in the same tank?
I've also pondered the idea of mudminnows since they get pretty nice sized so sculpins can't eat them. What kind of darters could I keep in the same tank?
Mottled Sculpin will eat Darters, Dollars are vicious and will probably kill your Sculpi; your best bet with sunnies are O-spots and Bantam sunfish, or if you could order them Fliers; the Sculpin in this area love rocks so that would be a good idea.
I've sampled adult scuplins in lakes with no inlets or outlets so the current isn't huge issue for the scuplins. That said, I think logperch and madtoms may be perfect tankmates for your scuplins. I would think Enneacathus species and Orangespotted/Bantam/Northern sunfish as display fish for that setting.